Gideon Greif ( he, גדעון גרייף; born 16 March 1951) is an Israeli historian who specializes in the history of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, especially the history of the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

and particularly the

Sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ''special unit'') were work units made up of German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber vict ...

in Auschwitz. He served as a visiting lecturer for Jewish and Israeli History at the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

during the academic year 2011–2012. He headed a commission that issued a controversial report in July 2021 that denied that the killing of Bosnian Muslims at and around Srebrenica in July 1995 constituted genocide.

Education

From 1965 until 1969 Gideon Greif attended Municipal High School (Gymnasium) in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. Later, from 1974 to 1976 he attended

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

where he received his bachelor's degree in Jewish history, studying the history of the land of Israel. Between 1976 and 1982 he did his master's degree in Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. From 1996 until 2001 he studied at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

from which he was awarded his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

Exhibitions

Greif was the scientific advisor and historical consultant for the exhibition "With Me Here Are Six Million Accusers" which marked the 50th anniversary of

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

, Jerusalem.Exhibit showcases Eichmann, 50 years after trial
''Associated Press'' via ''Kyiv Post'' (11 April 2011). Retrieved 27 June 2014. The exhibition described Eichmann's career at the SS, his personal responsibility for the deportation of millions of Jews to the ghettos and extermination camps, his attempts to hide after the war and the operation of his discovery and seizure in Argentina in 1960. The exhibition aimed to prove that Eichmann was not the "murderer behind the desk", but a fanatic foe of the Jews, determined to send them to their deaths.

Special projects

In 2006 Greif initiated the "Authentic Box Car" project, which stands on the ramp of

Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, not far from the main entrance to the camp, as a permanent memorial to the hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews murdered by the Germans in the gas chambers of Birkenau in 1944, and dedicated to the memory of Hugo Lowy. Greif's book '' We Wept Without Tears'' inspired Hungarian director

László Nemes László Nemes (born Nemes Jeles László; ; 18 February 1977) is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His 2015 debut feature film, ''Son of Saul,'' was screened in the main competition at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the ...

to create the film ''

Son of Saul ''Son of Saul'' ( hu, Saul fia) is a 2015 Hungarian historical drama film directed by László Nemes, in his feature directorial debut, and co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer. It is set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, a ...

'' dedicated to the Sonderkommando. The film won the 2016

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for the best foreign language film, and also won the 2016

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for the Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language.

Controversy

Serb victims at Jasenovac

In January 2017, together with representatives of Serbian and Jewish academic societies and the

Serbian government The Government of Serbia ( sr, Влада Србије, Vlada Srbije), formally the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr, Влада Републике Србије, Vlada Republike Srbije), commonly abbreviated to Serbian Government ( sr, � ...

representatives to the United States, Greif assisted the exhibition ''Jasenovac 75'' in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

covering crimes committed by Croatian

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...

in the Jasenovac concentration camp, including genocide against the Serbs. In January 2018, with Serbian representatives Greif co-organised the exhibition ''Jasenovac - pravo na nezaborav'' at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

in New York. The exhibition was criticized by the Croatian MVEP for "spreading false information and propaganda". Greif spent four years examining archives in research of the genocide in

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

, in which he affirmed a number of more than 700,000-800,000 Serb victims in Jasenovac. Dr. Robert Rosett, Senior Historian at the International Institute for Holocaust Research at

, stated that the number of victims murdered at Jasenovac were "many times less than the grossly inflated count of more than 800,000 that was widely touted in the Communist era and has been endorsed by Gideon Greif". Journalist Alexander Brezar of ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

'' wrote that Greif is "popular among Serb nationalists and revisionists for repeatedly inflating the number of Serb victims at Jasenovac." According to the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

, somewhere between 77,000 and 99,000 Serbs, Jews, Roma, and Croat opponents of the Ustaša regime were killed at Jasenovac, of whom between 45,000 and 52,000 were ethnic Serbs.

Srebrenica Commission

In 2019, Grief was appointed by Bosnia's member of presidency and Serb entity

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Feder ...

leader Milorad Dodik to head a independent International Commission of Inquiry to probe the events of the Srebrenica massacre during the war in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

(1992-1995). The concluding report published in July 2021 denied genocide in Srebrenica, "also repeatedly casts the

Bosniaks The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...

as aggressors and the Bosnian Serbs as victims" prior to 1995. The

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

as well as the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

and domestic courts have characterised these killings as genocide. American and U.N. diplomats and the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial Center commented that the commission was a bid to rewrite history, as the Republika Srpska's officials, including Milorad Dodik, had openly minimised the number of killed or denied it was a genocide. General Counsel of the

World Jewish Congress The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress' main purpose is to act as ...

Menachem Z. Rosensaft Menachem Z. Rosensaft (born 1948) an attorney in New York and the founding chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, is a leader of the Second Generation movement of children of Holocaust survivors. He has ...

, who teaches genocide law at Columbia Law School, strongly criticised the report, calling it an "embarrassment". Brezar commented that Serb nationalist politicians "are hiring Jewish experts on the Holocaust – and not for their expertise. Rather, they need Jews as tokens to legitimize their projects of

historical revisionism In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) views held by professional scholars about a historical event or times ...

". Writing in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Rosensaft criticized Greif for declaring on Republika Srpska television that "I am Jewish, I know what genocide means… Nobody can tell me what genocide is, and this event was no genocide." In November 2021, Greif was announced as a recipient for an award of special achievement by the German government for his work on the Holocaust. However, following diplomatic fallout in Germany due to his contention that the Srebrenica massacre perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces in 1995 did not constitute genocide, the

German Foreign Ministry , logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg , logo_width = 260 px , image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg , picture_width = 300px , image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building , headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...

in December 2021 announced that the award has been "withdrawn", explaining that the conclusions of the commission headed by Greif "contradict the case law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Court of Justice and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide". Later, Israeli media published alleged Greif's interview where he said that he accepted number of 8,000 deaths, but still denies it was genocide due to the fact that absolute majority of victims were men in the attempt to break towards the territory controlled by Bosniak army, prompting the associate executive Vice President of the World Jewish Congress, Menachem Rosensaft to say this was "a rather desperate attempt at damage control." "No amount of prevarication or sophistry on his part can change the fundamental fact that the parameters of the crime of genocide are set forth in the Genocide Convention and have been repeatedly and consistently applied to Srebrenica by successive tribunals", Rosensaft added. Greif denied later on that he gave any statement to Israeli media and accused radical organisation Muslim brotherhood and Bosniak politicians for the anti-campaign against the report.

Awards

For his involvement "in defense of the truth about the suffering of the Jewish, Serbian and other peoples during the World War II" he was awarded the Golden Medal for Merits of the Republic of Serbia. * Knight of the St. Sava Order of Diplomatic Pacifism (Serbian: Vitez svetosavskog pacifizma) * Sretenje Order- Golden Award for Merits (Serbian: Sretenjski orden - zlatna medalja za zasluge) * Plaque of Jasenovac Martyrs (Serbian: Plaketa Jasenovackih stradalnika) * Sokolov Award, Israeli journalism award, awarded by the Tel Aviv municipality, in memory of Nahum Sokolow.

Books

* Jasenovac Ausvic Balkana - Ustaska Imperija Okrutnosti, Jasenovac Auschwitz of the Balkans - Ustasha Empire of Cruelty, * Alojzije Stepinac Ustaski Vikar - Pokrsti Se Ili Umri - 101 Razlog Zasto Ne Moze Biti Svetac - Alojzije Stepinac Ustasha Vicar - Convert or Die - 101 Reason Why He Cannot Be a Saint, * Ustasko Konacno Resenje Pre Nacistickog - Ustasha Final Solution Before Nazi Final Solution,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greif, Gideon 1951 births Historians of the Holocaust Israeli historians Living people Tel Aviv University alumni University of Vienna alumni